06 June 2016
Members of the Board 2014-15 In October 2010, the Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude announced that 192 Quasiautonomous Non-Governmental Organisations (quangos) would be abolished and a further 118 merged.1 What are colloquially referred to as quangos are in fact a combination of nonministerial departments, executive agencies, non-departmental public bodies and others. They have a wide range of functions from providing expert advisory services to government to operating major parts of the National Health Service with multibillion pound budgets. While the actual number of quangos has fallen, most of the bodies abolished have been small advisory bodies whose functions have simply been transferred to other quangos or government departments.2 So despite this reduction in number, quangos retain significant responsibility over areas of policy and the sum of their budgets stretches into the tens of billions of pounds. This research note investigates who, in 2014-15, sat on quango boards, who sat on multiple boards in the same year and their attendance rate at board meetings. Where available, data on remuneration, allowances or honorariums has also been collected. The key findings of this research are:
There were at least 3,369 positions on the boards of quangos in 2014-15.
At least 1,504 board meetings were missed in 2014-15.
There are at least 134 quango board members who sat on more than one board in 2014-15.
Fifteen individuals sat on more than two quango boards.
Jonathan Baume sat on five quango boards:
1 2
Civil Service Commission- £5,000-£10,000 – 9/9 meetings attended
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-11538534 http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpolicy/bonfires-of-the-quangos/
Criminal Cases Review Commission- £0-£5,000 – 7/8 meetings attended
Health and Safety Executive- £15,000-£20,000 – 10/10 meetings attended
Office for Nuclear Regulation - £0 – 4/6 meetings attended
Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service - £1,695 – 2/3 meetings attended
Declarations of political activity amongst public appointees fell to just 4.5 per cent.
Conservative – 1.2 per cent
Labour – 1.7 per cent
Liberal Democrat – 0.5 per cent
Other – 1.1 per cent
Click here for the full data
Sources and Methodology All data is for the year 2014-15 or where the annual report is for the single year 2014. All names and data have been retrieved from annual accounts, reports or other official documents such as meeting minutes. A very few quangos do not appear to have published any such documents and so the membership of their boards has been taken directly from their website. These are noted in the source column of the spreadsheet. It may be that these boards have changed in composition since the 2014-15 financial year and so where this is the case and there is no other indication that they were on the board in 2014-15 they have been removed from the analysis even if they remain on the larger spreadsheet. The quangos considered in this report are those listed as ‘Public corporations’ and ‘Agencies and other public bodies’ at https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations
Table Guide
Table 1: The percentage of declarations of political activity to the Public Appointments Commissioner by party since 2000-2001
Chart 1: The percentage of declarations of political activity to the Public Appointments Commissioner by party since 2000-2001
Chart 2: The proportion of declarations of political activity by party 2
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Table 2: Individuals who sat on more than two quango boards
To discuss media opportunities please contact: Dia Chakravarty, Political Director 07899 020 455 Dia.chakravarty@taxpayersalliance.com To discuss the research please contact: Harry Fairhead, Policy Analyst 07807 885 200 Harry.fairhead@taxpayersalliance.com
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Table 1: The percentage of declarations of political activity to the Public Appointments Commissioner by party since 2000-2001 Year
Conservative (%)
Labour (%)
Liberal Democrat (%)
Other (%)
Total declaring political activity (%)
2000-01
3.9
11.7
1.3
1.3
19.0
2001-02
2.7
14.3
1.3
1.3
20.7
2002-03
3.2
11.7
1.6
1.6
18.6
2003-04
2.9
9.2
1.3
1.3
15.2
2004-05
2.5
8.9
1.5
1.5
14.4
2005-06
2.1
8.3
1.6
1.3
13.3
2006-07
2.5
10.2
2.0
1.1
15.8
2007-08
2.2
5.7
1.3
1.1
10.4
2008-09
2.1
5.5
1.0
1.5
10.2
2009-10
1.3
5.9
0.9
0.3
8.4
2010-11
2.0
5.4
1.3
1.7
10.3
2011-12
1.8
10.2
0.6
0.5
13.3
2012-13
3.3
3.0
1.0
1.7
9.0
2013-14
1.5
2.3
0.4
0.7
4.9
2014-15
1.2
1.7
0.5
1.1
4.5
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Chart 1: Party affiliation of public appointments since 2000-01 25
Per cent
20 15 10 5 0
Conservative %
Labour
Liberal Democrat %
Other %
Total declaring political activity %
Chart 2: Party affiliation of public appointments in 2014-15 (as a percentage of those who declared political activity)
24%
Conservative
27%
Labour
Liberal Democrat
11%
Other 38%
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Table 2: Individuals who sat on more than two quango boards Individuals on five quango boards Name
Quango
Position
Remuneration (£)
Meetings attended
Notes
Jonathan Baume
Civil Service Commission
Commissioner
5,000-10,000
9/9
Criminal Cases Review Commission
Non-Executive
0-5,000
7/8
“Competition fees” £15,000-20,000 From 01/07/14
Health and Safety Executive
Member
15,000-20,000
10/10
Office for Nuclear Regulation
Non-executive board member Council member
-
4/6
1,695
2/3
Until November 2014
Meetings attended
Notes
Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service
Individuals on four quango boards Name
Quango
Position
Remuneration (£)
Lynda Warren
Committee on Radioactive Waste Management Natural Resources Wales
Member
13,500
Member
20,000-25,000
Science Advisory Council
Member
-
-
Joint Nature Conservation Committee
Representing National Resources Wales
-
2/4
6/7
Individuals on three quango boards Name
Quango
Position
Remuneration (£)
Meetings attended
Alex Jablonowski
Valuation Office Agency
Non-Executive Director
10,000-15,000
11/11
Notes
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Individuals on three quango boards Name
Quango
Position
Remuneration (£)
Meetings attended
Alex Jablonowski (cont.)
Wilton Park
Non-Executive Director
10,000-15,000
5/5
Maritime and Coastguard Agency
Non-Executive Director
15,000-20,000
11/11
Andrew Flanagan
Civil Service Commission
Commissioner
5,000-10,000
8/9
Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority NHS Business Services Authority
Non-Executive Non-executive
5,000-10,000
8/8
Groceries Code Adjudicator
Groceries Code adjudicator
65,000-70,000
5/5
Met Office
Non-executive director
15,000-20,000
7/7
Natural Environment Research Council National Museums Liverpool
Member
6,850
5/5
Trustee
-
3/5
Competition Appeal Tribunal
Ordinary member
-
4/4
Environment Agency
Member
25,203
9/10
NHS England
Non-executive Director
5,000-10,000
8/8
Christine Tacon
Clive Elphick
Dame Moira Gibb
-
Notes
“Competition fees” £15,000-20,000
n/a
The Executive Board meets every 6 – 8 weeks and met 5 times in this reporting period with full attendance each time. - No further detail of board members
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Individuals on three quango boards Name
Quango
Position
Remuneration (£)
Meetings attended
Notes
Dame Moira Gibb (cont.)
Civil Service Commission
Commissioner
5,000-10,000
8/9
“Competition fees” £5,000-£10,000
Office for National Statistics
Non-executive member
15,000-20,000
-
National Crime Agency Remuneration Review Body Senior Salaries Review Body
Chair
11,407.25
-
Member
3,648.90
-
Senior Police Ranks
Member
1,628
-
Competition Appeal Tribunal
Ordinary members
Economic and Social Research Council Prison Service Pay Review Body
Member
0-5,000
Member
11,357.06
Committee on Climate Change
Member
10,000-15,000
9/11
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council UK Green Investment Bank
Member
5,000-10,000
5/5
Non-executive Director
25,000
8/8
High Speed Two (HS2) Limited
Non-Executive Board Member
10,000-15,000
5/6
David Lebrecht
John Beath
Julia King
Neil Masom
-
4/4 1/1
Left September 2014
-
Non-Executive Board member from 15 September 2014; contractual commitment two days per month
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Individuals on three quango boards Name
Quango
Position
Remuneration (ÂŁ)
Meetings attended
Notes
Neil Masom (cont.)
FCO Services
Interim Network Services Director
55,000-60,000
2/2
Information Commissioner's Office
1,000-5,000
2/2
Marine Management Organisation
Non-Executive Board Member Board member
1 October 2014 to 31 March 2015. The total fees stated here includes the additional element relating to the agency fees paid to LA International Computer Consultants Ltd who provided Neil Masom’s services. Neil Masom retired 31 July 2014
10,000-15,000
Natural Resources Wales
Member
25,000-30,000
Attendance at board meetings was "good" 7/7
Natural England
Board member
15,000-20,000
Advisory Committee on the Microbiological Safety of Food
Member
Human Tissue Authority
Lay Member
5,000-10,000
4/4
Public Health England
Non-executive board member
5,000-10,000
6/6
Nigel Reader
Rosie Glazebrook
-
Board attendance: Six members attending 100% of the time, three attending at least 85% of the time and one attending 60% of the time. -
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Individuals on three quango boards Name
Quango
Position
Sarah Veale
Regulatory Policy Committee
Member
Equality and Human Rights Commission Health and Safety Executive
Commissioner
10,000
6/6
member
15,000-20,000
10/10
Human Tissue Authority
Chair
45,000-50,000
4/4
Pension Protection Fund
Non-executive member
15,000-20,000
5/9
The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman
Non-executive members
0-5,000
2/2
Sharmila Nebhrajani
Remuneration (ÂŁ) -
Meetings attended
Notes
-
Resigned in July 2014
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